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Brooklyn Flea holiday market: What you'll find
The Brooklyn Flea folks are at it again, serving up an indoor holiday market where shoppers can peruse in warmth under cover and grab some hot food. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through March, the Winter Flea + Holiday Market, …Read more on amNY

Long Island Veterinarians Seeing Surge In Fleas, Ticks
As CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported, some pet owners think so, and they worry the parasites are becoming more difficult to control. Jodi Ehren, of Port Washington, fears her pooch, Luna, has fleas and that her home and family will be next. “Fleas have …Read more on CBS Local

the cleveland flea thrives as small business incubator
Without support from a grant, Sheldon pumped her energy into The Flea and within three months, the concept took flight. The market is organized entirely by Sheldon and her assistant Sarah Wilt and each vendor is selected through an application process.Read more on freshwatercleveland

There was a time, back in a pre-internet era known as the Good Old Days, when two people who had different opinions on a topic could talk about it and, even if they did not come to an understanding, could at least part ways with a better grasp of the other person’s point of view. People with different opinions were still, at the end of the day, people.

I’m not entirely sure that is the case anymore.

Lest anyone doubt me, proof enough should be the fact that we’ve just come off an election cycle. I live in an area with one of the most hotly contested Congressional races in the country, better known to us locals subjected to the campaign ads as “Mouthbreathing Carbuncle-Having Satan Worshipping Slimeball” versus “Luciferous Mucusbucket Festering Wound.” (Definitions supplied by opposing parties.)

It was a close race. I think most of us voted for one or the other not based on deep unabiding adoration so much as we held our noses and selected the one we found less odiferous. Nonetheless, after the Slimeball defeated the Festering Wound by the narrowest of margins, the loser went on the air and graciously wished his opponent “all the best”, which is a strange thing to wish someone you truly thought was the Antichrist. If you truly thought he was the path to death and destruction, you think one would continue to rage against the injustice of it all and exhort people to do something to undo this miscarriage of justice.

But politicians know the truth that a lot us seem to have forgotten. All that bluster is just that, bluster. And at the end of the day they actually have a lot more in common than not:

both middle aged men of the same demographic savvy enough to be successful in local politics

Both generally want to work for the constituents in order for people to live well in our beautiful city, though their ideas of how to get there might vary.

And now they will retreat to their corners to do whatever it is they do until they are again required by the tenor of American culture to again start yelling about how much the other person stinks.

Rumble In the Doghouse

We all know this about politics, we all roll our eyes with the silliness of it all, but don’t be mistaken- this “live and die by the sword”, “you’re with us or you’re worthy of a messy death” attitude has permeated many corners of our lives, and it’s not pretty.

The first time I met someone at a breeder’s event, I started talking to a person very involved with the dog fancy world. When she learned what I did, she looked at me a little sideways and said, “So you’re an animal rights person.”

PETA, protesting that abhorrent group of animal haters known as the American Veterinary Medical Association (true story).

“Not animal rights. Animal welfare,” I corrected her, as the person who introduced us (you know who you are, you rotten troublemaker) rubbed his palms together and waited in glee for us to start ripping each others’ hair out.

“What’s the difference?” she asked. So I called her a puppy mill, because all breeders are the same, right?

We looked at each other, hesitated a moment, then burst into laughter as she said, “Point taken.” We’ve been friends ever since.

I suppose in another world, maybe hidden behind an anonymous screen and keyboard, we could have become mortal enemies, but we’d spent too much time face to face to be able to call the other person demon spawn. We both knew we had too much in common, including:

a love of good wine

writing long and probably way too involved stories

thinking dogs are the absolute bee’s knees. We both totally adore and spend most of our free time thinking about, canines.

This friend recently began a Kickstarter campaign to create a website commemorating National Purebred Dog Day. Now, I’m not trying to convince anyone to go and support the campaign if it’s not your thing, no more than I would try and convince someone to donate to a political candidate they did not agree with. But the simple fact that she waited a long time to even begin the campaign because she was nervous about people targeting her for being an Evil Dog Person is honestly, pretty sad. I feel the same way about that as I do people who target pittie advocates trying to end BSL: why would you do that? We are not each other’s enemies here.

Who’s right?

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece for Vetstreet about purebreds versus mutts. I wonder if perhaps the editor was wanting me to go for the easy kill, the one that would bring 5000 shares and bloodshed in the comments section: quote people talking about how wrong the other side was, how misguided. But I didn’t want to do that.

We want people to find the right dog for their family so they keep them forever.

They had different ideas about the best way to do that, but they’re both perfectly valid approaches, really, and people have been using both successfully for some time. Let me repeat: at the end of the day we all want the same thing. The rest is just window dressing.

Can you tell which dog is more worthy, loved, or better for my family? I can’t.

Who’s the real enemy here? Apathy. Ignorance. Greed. Say what you want about either the dog fancy or the rescue community (and indeed, the large numbers who belong to both): they are not apathetic people. They care, and they want what’s best. Instead of shaking your fingers at the other side’s perceived shortcomings, listen. There is much to be learned, on both sides. I know this from experience.

It’s very easy to continue to point and shoot at the easy target. Keep on doing it if it makes you happy. It certainly makes life easier for the people at CheapPuppyMillDog.com; whenever someone gets turned off by the antics they encounter at either end of the spectrum, guess who’s waiting with open arms?

We are not each other’s enemy. If you want someone to hate on who really deserves it, I suggest these idiots. Seriously, no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Campaigns encouraging dog owners to clean up behind their pets run the gamut from silly to weird to occasionally outright creepy. The story that we wrote up on Friday about painting poo pink fell somewhere between the silly and weird. It was silly the first time someone tried it in 2010; after it was implemented by several different towns, it just became weird.

In contrast, the strategy tried by the charity Keep Britain Tidy zooms straight for the ominous and creepy. The organization has started a new campaign to erect hundreds of billboards with huge glowing eyes and the words “Thoughtless dog owners – we’re watching you!”

Apparently, someone in Keep Britain Tidy read 1984 and came away with the idea that it was an operational “how-to” manual, rather than a cautionary tale.

The signs are made of a material that “charges up” during the day and then glows at night. The campaign is specifically targeted at owners who are walking their dogs in the dark winter hours. The charitable organization’s press release claims, “Research suggested that dog fouling tends to occur at night time and during the winter months, as some dog owners feel that they can’t be seen ‘under the cover of darkness.’”

While people who don't pick up behind their dogs are obnoxious, the campaign seems to overstate them as a threat, as if lumps of stray dog poo may bring down life and civilization as we know it. According to the organization's chief executive, Phil Barton:

Our most recent research tells us that people see dog fouling as, by far, the most unacceptable and dirtiest type of litter, and the biggest concern in environmental quality. With more than five million dogs in England producing nearly 600,000 tonnes of waste each year, these concerns are understandable. This campaign has been proven to make a difference and encourage the minority of dog owners who don't pick up after their pets to do the right thing.

One of the posters. Is failing to clean up after your dog a crime against the State?

In a world where those things are a reality, giant glowing eyes looking over people to make sure that they clean up their dog poop just cranks up the air of paranoia. Worse, it sends a message that you should clean up dog poop not because it's the right thing to do for your community, but because if you don't, some shadowy, omnipotent power will strike you down.

Cleaning up after your pet is part of being a responsible dog owner. Can't we figure out a way to promote that message without creeping everyone out?

Fipronil Litigation Update: Three Years and Counting
The patent at issue in this case is U.S. Patent 5,618,945, the fipronil manufacturing process patent. On March 22, MANA and Control Solutions file a contempt of court suit against BASF with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North …Read more on PCT Magazine

San Luis obispo November 12Pismo beach November 13Santa Maria area* November 14Santa Barbara November 22Ventura November 25Oxnard November 26Malibu November 29Santa Monica December 1LA Area (leaving) December 8The Final Mile December 14

I’ve noticed lately that when people ask me what I want for Christmas, I always respond with something along the lines of “some relaxation, please.” And although I always say it with a laugh, I’ve come to realize that I’m not really joking. This year has been both the best and one of the most exhausting of my life. In my particular case, I have a baby, a full time job, and a husband who is gone half the year – and I don’t feel like I’ve sat down for more than five minutes a day in longer than I can remember. Sound familiar? I’d be willing to bet that every single one of us, regardless of situation, is pretty freaking tired by the end of the year. Maybe it’s your job, or school, or your kids, or just plain old life – but there is likely one or more things in your life that have left you feeling overwhelmed and in need of a break. Am I right? I’m fairly certain that most of our friends and family probably feel the same. And this is the reason for which I decided to put together some items that will help you give the (much needed and guaranteed appreciated) gift of R and R this holiday season.

If you go big when it comes to holiday gifts, you could always opt for a tropical vacation or a spa weekend. But these items are smaller (and for most, more realistic) gift ideas sure to bring comfort and de-stressing to all who receive them. The Spa Gift Set from Anemone, for example, contains a handcrafted Herbal Facial Steam, Cleansing Grains, Cacao Rose Mask, and Chamomile + Almond Butter Cream, sure to make the receiver feel instantly pampered. (I own this set and can attest to this. Also check out their handcrafted Goats Milk & Honey Cream which is another personal favorite. And pssst, use this coupon code for 20% off your purchase of $ 25 of more: BONUS25.) Or how about those super cozy (and super cute) faux shearling Cloud Slippersfrom UO? I feel like you’d basically melt as soon as you slipped them onto tired, achey feet. Although a bit more of a splurge than the other items, the Pendleton Chief Joseph Blanket is the ultimate relaxation-inducing gift that your recipient will cherish for many years (I’ve had one for 15 years and it’s held up amazingly well). You could even take several of these items and put together a big ol’ Basket of Relaxation for someone really in need of unwinding. I may actually do just that…

What about you? Got any other ideas of great gifts to help loved ones rest and relax?

As you probably know, I have a bit of a complicated relationship with the PTA moms. Not moms in general, mind you, just the small subset of Pinterest loving, glue-gun wielding domestic lifestyle experts whose expectations I can never, despite my best efforts, seem to live up to. It doesn’t matter what school we’re at, it happens every time. First it was the art project/pooper scooper incident in kindergarten. Then it was the Have a Very Agro Valentine’s Day episode. And now it’s crudite, crudite that torments the soul.

It started simply enough: an email asking for volunteers to bring in food items for the teachers this conference week. I looked on the sign up sheet and put my name next to crudite: veggies and dip. Easy, I thought, a quick run to the grocery store for some carrot sticks and dip and done.

I forgot where I was.

(Not two weeks ago, I found myself in the midst of a malestrom for the fifth grade Halloween party when all the room moms got together and asked the parents to bring in food. I asked my class parents to bring in pretzels and fruit. The other moms showed up with cookies shaped like rotting fingers with almond nails and jelly blood, and eyeball eggs with veins hand-painted on with food dye. My pretzels were shoved under the table.)

So now, a few minutes after signing up for the veggie tray, I received an email instructing me to be creative! which is always concerning. To illustrate her point, the organizer included this helpful photo:

As to what our vegetables should aspire to be.

Now at this point a normal person would laugh and say, “OK, lady,” and bring in a tray from Costco, but unfortunately I still have the sin of pride to contend with on a regular basis, so I instead spent the afternoon standing in line at the grocery store watching YouTube videos of Martha Stewart blanching asparagus. Three hours of cursing later, with piles of peeled burnt chestnuts and carrot shavings dripping out of my hair like Jackson Pollock on a bender, I came up with this:

This is the dogged tenacity that makes people like me get through vet school even when all indicators point to the “why?” factor. We can’t explain it. We just have to.

I shared this with my friends, and they all got a good laugh out of how silly it was, and then later in the day my friend in Ohio sent me a link and said, “See? You’re not alone.” It was a photo of some artfully arranged food items a group of mothers had arranged for their teachers.

It was, upon further inspection, a photo from my very school from earlier in the day. It had already made the Pinterest rounds and ended up in Ohio, where my friend saw it and sent it to me as an example of Moms Gone Styled. I scrolled through it, looking for my contribution.

Notably lacking? The crudite. They were apparently so lackluster as to have not even rated a Facebook photo, and when I returned to pick up the dish I found they had been shoved in the corner in order to make way for some gluten free turkey wraps with hand-whisked dressings in, of course, Mason jars.

At this point, even a not quite normal person would just give up, which is theoretically what I should do, but it’s become clear to me I live in a parallel universe where I am destined to almost-quite get it, over and over and over, but not get it entirely. This is why I am a veterinarian, the almost-quites of the medical field.

So you know what? I’m embracing it. This afternoon I decided to go on a Pinterest binge and make a little Pinterest and dog-friendly crudite platter my way. Hope you enjoy it.

A bright autumn day, full of promise and gently whispered secrets amongst best of friends, calls for sustenance.

Lovingly hand-extruded kibble, with ingredients sourced from local artisans in an organic human-grade facility in Portland by men with bushy beards. In a Mason jar.

We end our afternoon in the garden of delights (it’s water friendly succulents! We’re eco friendly here in drought-parched SoCal) with hand-cut carrot bones from the local CSA, mint from the garden, words of wisdom from the dog sketched in canine-friendly peanut butter hand ground at Whole Foods. And of course, no pet garden of delights would be complete without the coup de grace:

nitrate free ham roses.

You saw it first here, folks. I’m waiting on sponsors for a YouTube tutorial but I think a ham bouquet is a lovely thing.

Non-irrigated peanuts harmed by spider mites
Spider mites are typically found in non-irrigated peanuts because of the dry conditions. In fields that are watered or those that receive rainfall, spider mites are usually not a problem. However, they are a majorconcern for many of Georgia's peanut …Read more on Times-Enterprise

Cyclamen mites are killing her African violets
Using Sally's description, her accompanying photos and a few reliable resources, I believe what she has is cyclamen mites. Though similar to spider mites in appearance, cyclamen mites are tiny, difficult to see even when magnified and they don't spin webs.Read more on Allentown Morning Call

Itchy after being outside? This 'mite' help
There are several unknowns about the mites. Despite their itchy, painful bites, they're not considered medically or economically important enough (meaning they are not life-threatening and don't damage crops or buildings) to justify studies designed to …Read more on Topeka Capital Journal (blog)

Tiny Mites Impress at Friendship Bowl
Tiny Mites Impress at Friendship Bowl. SPECIAL TO THE PCNR. Hyde Park – The Tiny Mites bundled up with gloves, hats, and layers of sweatshirts to take on the freezing Poughkeepsie wind and the formidable Ulster Jets in the 2014 Friendship Bowl.Read more on Putnam County News and Recorder (subscription)

Dogs are not allowed into the Palace de l’Europe in Menton but much depends on the security guys. On the day this Miniature Pinscher came to visit ‘PhotoMenton’ with her owners, they allowed small dogs in, provided they were carried. So meet tiny Lola, only 4 months old and on her very first outing. She lives in Menton.RIVIERA DOGS